Musings on Bike-Riding While Listening to Jennifer Fulwiler
Stranded on the Pennsylvania Turnpike!
Image by Maggie Helgeland
Our sixth child, a 16 year old daughter, was in one of the buses stranded on the way home to South Dakota, returning from the March for Life.
She was invited to write about the saga for our local newspaper, and they published it on the first page!
Stranded on the Pennsylvania Turnpike!
You've probably heard about our adventures of being stranded on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on the news, but I'll start at the beginning.
Traveling to D.C. for the annual March for Life was uneventful. I was amazed at the number of people, despite the many groups which had cancelled due to the oncoming weather. It was a wonderful experience to be standing up for our beliefs among so many other people who shared them.
It started snowing around noon and continued all through the March. We walked on, singing, cheering, and holding our signs so they blocked the snow from our faces. Smiles everywhere. We were all soaked when we loaded the buses and started back, earlier than scheduled, to be ahead of the storm.
Then came the part of our trip that made national news. Well, international news actually. We were driving along the Pennsylvania Turnpike around 9pm when our bus rolled to a stop. There was an accident about 10 miles ahead so traffic was slow, but we should be out soon.
That "soon" turned into 1-3 hours.
And 1-3 hours turned into 8.
The next morning we still had not moved. It was still snowing heavily. They told us the National Guard had been called in to help dig out the vehicles.
We were still in the same place at noon, when we joined the other groups for Mass. It was one of the best Masses I've ever attended. The snow was coming down on us in large, wet flakes and we stood and shivered. We prayed and sang together like we had been stranded for no other reason. I was in awe. Who gets the experience of going to Mass on the side of the road, standing in over a foot of snow, while more snow is being dumped on them by the minute? Yet there was so much joy. We all had light hearts and returned to our buses with renewed optimism.
Food was becoming scarce. We had snacks, but everyone was longing for an actual meal. With the help of the National Guard, we eventually got some pizza. It was cold and we had to share our pieces, but it tasted so good at the time!
Another few hours went by. It was dark out now. A church in Bedford, PA, was offering us dinner and lodging for the night. Around 6pm, we clapped and cheered when the bus finally started moving.
The next morning we packed up and started on our way. We were so happy to be heading home under blue sky. We gave a huge thank you to our bus driver. That day went by fast, now that we were moving. We shared our experiences and we prayed.
We finally pulled into the Cathedral parking lot Monday at 6am, 63 hours after leaving DC. The Sioux Falls news reporters had cameras set up, and we got off the bus singing “Holy God we Praise Thy Name”. As we stepped out, the bishop gave us each a hug and said, "Welcome home."
One of our leaders had taken and posted a video of our roadside Mass. Throughout the rest of the trip he was updating us on the number of hits it had. The last I heard was 1.8 million. We had Skype interviews with several news agencies, and even BBC news asked him if they could use his video. Our story is all over the internet. If you Google search "Pennsylvania Turnpike Mass," you'll see what I mean.
The Brookings teens who were on that trip have created a T-Shirt design with the words “I Survived the Turnpike”. The proceeds of the sale will go towards all who helped us. bonfirefunds.com/i-survived-the-pennsylvania-turnpike
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About the Author
Writing has been a passion since primary school in her native Rio de Janeiro, where Ana grew up the seventh of a noisy, large, and happy Catholic family. She graduated with an Art degree from a small Catholic college and came to the USA to pursue graduate work, when she met her husband Geoff, now a university professor and international scientist. Their seven children range from 14 to 28 years old and as they grow into adulthood they enjoy activities like sending their parents postcards from all the continents of the world, including a recent sent from the single Post Office in Antarctica! As a mother at home, embracing Catholic family life centered on both faith and academics, Ana have been active in myriad ways as she watched her children grow in virtue and in excellence. They have grown to be Geography experts, piano and voice virtuosi, young successful professionals, dedicated teachers, classical language scholars and budding artists.
During her homeschooling career of over twenty years, she has always been very involved in local homeschool groups, teaching Art, Geography, History, and Latin to small groups among other things. She taught NFP and has written Catholic plays for children, as well as articles and features for Catholic periodicals. Ana is the author of the Catholic Textbook Project workbooks, and wrote the chapter on Geography in the the book "Why Should I Learn This?" (edited by Maureen Wittman, 2015) She has been a book reviewer for 20+ years for various sites including Love2Learn and Amazon.com. In just about every place they have lived (and there were many of them!), Ana has led book clubs for women. An occasional poet, Ana was recently awarded a national poetry prize from the Catholic Daughters of the Americas.
With the two youngest now quite self-propelled as part-time homeschoolers, Ana is beginning to look into ways to become more involved in her parish and community. She has a few writing projects in the back burner... and a supportive husband who wants to read her stuff. She thanks God for a life filled with adventure and fulfillment, and continues asking everyday for His guidance and His blessing.
Ana can be reached at anabragahenebry@gmail.com
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